1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the convenient transporting of wheelchairs by automobile. This invention is especially useful where the automobile lacks sufficient trunk space or where the hoisting of the wheelchair into and out of the trunk or station wagon deck is too arduous a task for the person involved. The invention also relates to bicycle carriers for automobiles since the invention adapts an existing bicycle carrier to facilitate the carrying of a wheelchair.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A wheelchair can be carried by an existing bicycle carrier simply by fashioning a number of loops of rope or the like around the two objects while the wheelchair is held in place against the bicycle carrier. The problems associated with this are three-fold: (1) This normally should require two persons or one very adroit and strong person to hold the wheelchair in place while it is tied on, (2) attachment may not always be secure enough to maintain the wheelchair in place or to hold against vibration and damage; and (3) the time consumed may be excessive for some people. Jordening, U.S. Pat. No. 4,296,879 has disclosed an extensible support member which functions to lie across the horizontal support pieces of a bicycle carrier. The one end of the extensible support member is configured to hold and support the handle bars of a bicycle. In the present invention that one end is configured to hold the handle grips of a wheelchair.